It’s curious that the year 2016 was a leap year. Such years are believed to be unlucky and generally difficult by a number of cultures. In ancient times people would track the events that would take place during a certain year and make their observations. Those patterns would soon became the basis for omens and superstitions that are now connected with the leap year.
There are plenty of signs, associated with this year. For example, it’s not recommended to start new ventures in a leap year. In Greece people would generally avoid getting married in this year, as it is believed that those who dare will be unhappy in their family life.
It’s hard to say how the fact that the year 2016 was a leap year affected developments on the international stages, as the difficulties that most countries experienced were a direct result of the incompetence and the outright malice of certain elected officials in a number of states.
The conflicts that the US and its EU allies unleashed upon Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya have not yield any decisive victories for the warmongers. On the contrary, militants that the West supports continue spreading political instability, which leads to the gradual deterioration of economics not only in the Middle East, but around the world as a whole.
There’s a distinct burning desire of NATO leaders to acquire new funds by drawing in an increasing number of countries into an arms race, while expanding NATO’s sphere of influence, even in the absence of a clear threat to the security of the Alliance. One cannot expect any serious commitment to the NATO cause, while relying solely on the fictional threat from Russia, China and Iran. Therefore, the population of most EU states are outraged by the fact that the European Commission’s plans to force EU member states into allocating 2% of their GDP on the creation of a new European defense fund.
It’s not surprising then that in 2016 we’ve witnessed the event that is now known as Brexit, which is the direct result of failed policies of British and European officials. The sitting unelected officials of the EU have failed in their quest of uniting Europe, while cutting social programs and revoking freedoms of European citizens for the sake of their personal enrichment.
The year 2016 has become the year of a profound EU crisis, says the German Focus. As the heads of EU states gather to display unity over and over again, it seems that the collapse of the EU as a system cannot be reversed now. The EU is in a hopeless state, since there’s a risk that the UK’s example may be followed by other states.
Europe still struggles to rebunk after the recent debt crisis. If countries such as Germany do not feel the its pressure, the Southern European continue suffering from high unemployment, debts and the weakening economy. At the same time euro seems to be unable to recover from the crisis completely. Since it’s an instrument of supra-national control that was introduced without ever consulting the population, the rapidly spreading protest moods result not only in the demand to bring down the EU officials, but euro as well.
If things were not bad enough on their own, the EU has become the victim of a massive flood of refugees fleeing war, hunger, and poverty produced by US policies in the Middle East and Africa. European unity, already strained, started to collapse as Merkel announced her plan “to help the refugees” back in 2015. She didn’t even try to comprehend the possible threats from the massive influx of people and how opportunists would take advantage of cultural differences. Merkel saw the crisis as a chance for Germany to increase birth rates, make the population younger and recover economically, but the German population had a second opinion. Merkel’s imposed quotas on the distribution of refugees across EU countries have been objected to by Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. The latter two states have even filed lawsuits in the European Court, since they have their own national interests to defend. The situation is being further complicated by an ongoing string of terrorist attacks in the EU.
Against this background, local communities have begun supporting right-wing parties, which are believed to be a viable way of undermining the establishment and its policies.
If things weren’t bad enough, this year was marked by an outright hysterical anti-Russian propaganda war, which is now being actively promoted by Washington and its allies. But the attempt to spread Russophobia has already begun to backfire for the West, as two Russian-friendly politicians have recently won presidential elections in Moldova and Bulgaria.
The Russophobic campaigners of the Obama administration have suffered a defeat by failing to secure the presidential office for Hillary Clinton. And it’s perfectly logical, since this very administration failed to address the social conditions that Americans live in today. In spite of Obama becoming a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, his foreign policy has been a bitter contradiction, resulting in his receiving of the prize being viewed as a political farce which completely discredits the Nobel Committee.
The year 2016 has shown that the absolute majority of Western politicians have simply ignored the simple wisdom of looking after their ordinary citizens, wisdom that dictates peace and prosperity for whole regions instead of certain individuals. The simple commandments of the One Judge have too often been replaced by the urge for personal enrichment that those in power show.
So on Christmas Eve, I want to say: ” Dear Santa, please bring us such wisdom this Christmas!”
Martin Berger is a freelance journalist and geopolitical analyst, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
